Author's ramble: Just finished my essay so it is entirely possible that this chapter will be a little more cheerful than usual.

Cast of thousands: You writing cheerfully? That's a laugh.

Me: Hey, it could happen.

Cast of thousands: *Hollow laughter*

Me: Guess what, I don't own the characters. Oh, wait I actually own Stenson - but I'd be perfectly willing to sell him *mumbles* bastard torturing Jack ..

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After that Jack physically seemed to recover quickly. His bruises faded, and the cuts on his back healed nicely, although it was obvious that he'd always have the scars. His broken leg also appeared to be mending although neither Will or Elizabeth knew enough about medicine to be entirely sure. The fever dropped after a few days.

Still Jack seemed weak and listless. The only time he really seemed animated was when Will or Elizabeth tried to check his wounds, or his temperature, then he protested loudly and threatened them with strange and unusual punishments that neither believed him capable of. He also seemed entirely uninterested in eating or drinking anything - even the rum that Elizabeth produced with the intent of using as a bribe to get Jack to start eating.

In other words;

"He isn't behaving like Captain Jack Sparrow." Elizabeth said, as she and Will stood up on deck together.

Will nodded his agreement. "I think, that something that happened to him upset him a lot." He said. "Maybe if we got him to talk about it?" he added uncertainly.

"How?"

"I don't know. But after breaking him out of prison and evading the royal navy, I'm not going to stand by and watch him starve himself to death. Let's try asking him what happened. If we don't get a straight answer, we can try something else."

Elizabeth watched Will, fascinated by his determination, his strength and his loyalty. That was what she had missed over the past two years. That was why she had loved him. "Alright." She agreed. "But not right now. I think he's still sleeping." She took him by the hand and tried out a pirate accent. "How 'bout a swim love?"

Will laughed. "I love you." He answered simply.

Soon there was nothing but the splashing of water and a few, tender, kisses.

As it happened though. Jack had not been asleep and had overheard the entire conversation. He had been surprised to hear Will's worries about him starving himself to death.

"Didn't think I was doing that badly." He thought. "Just don't feel hungry anymore. They're worried about me though ... I wonder why." From some other part of his mind a voice said angrily "Because they're your friends you halfwit. They went to all the trouble of saving you're miserable life and you've hardly said a word to them." He blinked. "Hmmm. Just my luck to start hearing voices that think I'm a halfwit." He said aloud.

"It's funny," he mused "when I lost the Pearl before, I was so angry. Now I'm just really tired." His eyes narrowed. "Somewhere, somehow I seem to have given up. The whelp and his strumpet are right! I'm not acting like Captain Jack Sparrow. Which is not good, 'cause I don't have anyone else to act like. So, I reckon it would be best if I went back to being me as soon as possible, or I'll have to think up someone else to be."

Filled with a fresh, and reckless determination, Jack decided to try getting up. He pulled the blankets off himself and hauled himself up until he was sitting. He ignored the numerous aches that greeted this movement, and swung his legs round until his feet were just touching the floor. Then, bracing himself he stood up. He inhaled sharply as his still splinted left leg protested the weight put on it. He stood, swaying for a moment, the tottered over to the far wall. There was a mirror there. He looked in it.

"God, I look awful." He muttered. "Like a skeleton .." He shuddered slightly as he remembered standing in the moonlight studying his own bones, remembered the horrified look on Will's face at the sight of him, and the horrible feeling of having no feeling. He shook his head quickly, trying to banish the memories back into the depths of his mind where they belonged.

Straightening up, he addressed his reflection. "Right. You are Captain Jack Sparrow, savvy? And that means you need to get your ship back. As soon as possible." He looked at his own eyes and nodded in satisfaction. It seemed he savvied. Good.

It seemed like a good idea to go get some fresh air, maybe surprise Will and Elizabeth so, holding on tightly to the wall, he climbed the stairs and went up on deck.

Ah, the smell of the sea. Next to the smell of rum, probably the best scent in the world. Now there was an idea, Elizabeth had had some rum earlier, maybe she hadn't set fire to it yet. Pondering this, Jack moved to the side of the ship and looked out at the land and was completely astonished, bemused and not a little upset to recognise the island on which he'd been marooned. Twice.

"What the..?" Shocked, Jack leaned forward for a closer look. It was at that moment that his still-healing leg chose to give up, and he fell forwards into the sea.

The splash, closely followed by a lot of swearing and a loud cry of "Me overboard!" alerted Will and Elizabeth to the fact that something was wrong. They had in fact been just climbing back onto the ship, so they rushed over to the other side to see Jack floundering in the water. It was obvious that his leg was making it hard for him to stay afloat, so without hesitation, Will dived in and grabbed him, pulling him over to the rope which Elizabeth threw down for them.

After he was safely aboard Jack opened his mouth to speak, but was silenced immediately by Elizabeth.

"Dry clothes first. Then we'll talk. We don't want your fever to come back" Since being wet was annoying, Jack agreed.

So, with Jack and Will both now dry, they gathered on the deck again. Seeing the island again, reminded Jack of why he was angry in the first place.

"Why are we on this bloody island?" he asked.

"Because firstly we needed a place to hide while you recovered where no-one would disturb us or arrest us and secondly we needed somewhere that close that Will and I could sail to on our own."

Jack blinked. "But why are we on this bloody island?" he asked.

Hearing a certain note of desperation in Jack's voice, Will said "We won't be here for much longer Jack. And we've got a boat, so we can leave whenever we like."

"Think I need some rum." Jack muttered. Will and Elizabeth exchanged glances.

"You can have some rum if you eat something." Elizabeth said firmly.

"And if you tell us what happened to you." Will added.

Jack thought for a moment. "Alright," he said "How 'bout food first, then rum then stories. Do we have an accord?"

"Yes." Will and Elizabeth spoke in unison. Will went to fetch some food. Elizabeth went to fetch the rum. And Jack remained on deck, glaring suspiciously at the island.

******************************************************************** Sheeesh, that was even weirder than the last chapter. And really pretty short. Unfortunately structurally necessary. Except the bit where Jack falls in the water. I just put that in for the hell of it. Oh well, that's life or at least an adequate substitute.

Hey, only (pause for rapid calculation) fourteen and a half hours till I see Return of the King. Yay!

Please review by the way. The story, not return of the king. Although, I guess whatever works